Sometimes I Embarrass Myself

How funny that the word embarrass has the word 'ass' in it.
Cuz' right now that's about how I feel.

Yeah, it hasn't been a stellar week- I lost my sweet little dog last Sunday, and then my Nephew's family had to put his cat down last night.  We still haven't heard back from my husbands college room mate (and best friend) in New Jersey yet.  And I've been wanting to pull my hair out or reach through the phone and pull my mortgage brokers hair out over his 'tiny' mistake that cost us a week of waiting for a closing date...

I have been edgy and irritable.  And yet there really isn't any excuse for the way I've been letting myself get all worked up over stuff that isn't going to change just because I got all worked up over it.

All of this stuff is just annoying and I embarrass myself when I don't realize how much worse things can be.  

So... I'm letting everyone know that I am so sorry for being so darn selfish this week.

I think of Nathan's grandma that only wanted to go on a cruise to the Bahamas for her 10th anniversary, with her husband who travels for work so often that they rarely get to celebrate anything at all together.  The trip was to be last week and they left from a port in New York city.  Needless to say they never made it to the Bahamas and were lucky to be able to get back home on Thursday after riding out hurricane Sandy and 3 days of waiting in the airport for flights that were cancelled over and over again.

I think of my friends who just lost their church home.   Their church was suddenly disbanded due to financial issues and a pastor that resigned.  This church was really important in their lives and has been the glue that helped to stabilize them through the loss of parents at a young age, infertility issues, and a long bout of joblessness.  I just know they feel so adrift without the strength of their church.

I also think of all those people who made it through hurricane Sandy and yet have not one material thing left in this world.  No home, no tangible reminders of memories, maybe not even all of their family members.

Sometimes I can't believe what an ass I can make of myself.

While I can't promise that I won't let things get to me again, I can choose how I react to the daily annoyances of life.  It's not always easy, but I owe it to everyone to put a little more effort into the positive side and a little less jumping to donkey-like reactions.

Curious Donkey by Evgeni Dinev / Image found at freedigitalphotos.net

I'll start by concentrating on one of the main reasons I have been so excited about having a vacation condo:  I have an idea about being able to use our Palm Springs condo and maybe even network with others who also have vacation properties to be able to help those who never get the luxury of having any vacation at all.

Photo Credit:  Hand Fire by Salvatore Vuono
Image found at freedigitalphotos.net

Ah yes, so much more productive than getting all worked up and annoyed.....

Lost In 'Real Estate Paperwork Land'

Holy cow! 

I was warned by a neighbor about how bad the combination of crazy California over-regulation and all the new rules for bank loans would be and I still have been caught completely by surprise.

Yesterday alone, we signed 53 pages of paperwork.  And emailed back 23 pages of supporting material to prove that we can afford this new loan for a condo in Palm Springs.

All this with 45% down and a credit score in the high excellent range.  Did I mention this is just preliminary stuff and we are still a month out from signing final papers?  Definitely not for the faint of heart...

In the meantime, I want to mention that my sweet dog Parker is 15 and 1/2 as of yesterday!!!

Not bad for a breed that has an average lifespan of 10-12 years.  Honestly, he has outlived any reasonable expectations and his days now consist of roasting his old bones on the deck (-thank God we've had such a nice Fall so far) and doing lots of funny dementia and lack of hearing and sight related things that still keep us laughing and enjoying his wonderful spirit.

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

Surprise- A Road Trip Adventure!

My husband and I have been planning all along to go down to Palm Springs to look at condos during the week of the 4th of July.  We have saved and saved and are finally ready to at least physically look at some properties.  It has been quite educational and frustrating to find out what all this entails. 

Here in a nutshell is more than anyone who is not shopping for a Palm Springs condo could ever want to know: 

1) As I mentioned in a previous post, Palm Springs is unique in that every other mile of the city has been designated as native Indian land.  This means that half of all properties have a small lease that is paid to the native people over a long term contract that is renewable indefinitely.  Basically both the natives and the city want to keep this as a simple peaceful arrangement so as to be profitable to all parties.  However, this also makes fairly unpopular lending on condos in general even a bit more sticky in Palm Springs. 

2) So many condo properties in this area of California have been foreclosed on that many of the communities have more units being owned by investors than actual residents.  And, guess what?  The banks don't like to loan on condos that are majority owned by investors.

3) Even with perfect credit and a good sized down payment, anything that is deemed 'wrong' with the community that we might eventually select a unit in could completely nullify any agreement we might actually have with a seller.

So have I mentioned that we're up against a big challenge here?! 

No worries, we are NOT giving up that easily.

We're up for a look with a realtor and it's happening next week.  Yes, you might have noticed that is one week PRIOR to the week of the 4th of July. 

We have moved the trip up BECAUSE.... drum roll please.....

My husband has an in person interview with a company in Arizona!  ...And he can't fly yet or even pick up more than 15 lbs., which would put luggage out of the question.  BUT, he is feeling great and ready to do an interview so here we go- We'll be driving down and taking our two dogs along with us.  Yes, we're a little bit crazy!!!

And we'll top off the trip by stopping by and picking up my nephew, Nathan, on the way back so he can have one of his week-long summer visits with us over the 4th of July.

It is going to be one big whirlwind adventure!